Acquiring the parts for the Duckiebot C0
✎🔗The trip begins with acquiring the parts. Here, we provide a link to all bits and pieces that are needed to build a Duckiebot, along with their price tag. If you are wondering what is the difference between different Duckiebot configurations, read this.
In general, keep in mind that:
- The links might expire, or the prices might vary.
- Shipping times and fees vary, and are not included in the prices shown below.
- Substitutions are OK for the mechanical components, and not OK for all the electronics, unless you are OK in writing some software.
- Buying the parts for more than one Duckiebot makes each one cheaper than buying only one.
Cost: USD 159 + Shipping Fees (minimal configuration C0)
Time: 15 days (average shipping for cheapest choice of components)
Results: A kit of parts ready to be assembled in a C0 or C0+wjd configuration.
Next Steps:
- After receiving these components, you are ready to do some soldering before assembling your
C0orC0+wjdDuckiebot.
Add a different “Tools” section in the table (e.g., solderer), or add in the resoruces beginning snippet; Differentiate pricing for bulk vs detail purchase (?)
Bill of materials
✎🔗| Chassis | USD 20 |
| Camera with 160-FOV Fisheye Lens | USD 22 |
| Camera Mount | USD 8.50 |
| 300mm Camera Cable | USD 2 |
| Raspberry Pi 3 - Model B | USD 35 |
| Heat Sinks | USD 5 |
| Power supply for Raspberry Pi | USD 7.50 |
| 16 GB Class 10 MicroSD Card | USD 10 |
| Mirco SD card reader | USD 6 |
| Stepper Motor HAT | USD 22.50 |
| Stacking Header | USD 2.50/piece |
| Battery | USD 20 |
| 16 Nylon Standoffs (M2.5 12mm F 6mm M | USD 0.05/piece |
| 4 Nylon Hex Nuts (M2.5) | USD 0.02/piece |
| 4 Nylon Screws (M2.5x10) | USD 0.05/piece |
| 2 Zip Ties (300x5mm) | USD 9 |
Wireless Adapter (5 GHz) (C0+w) |
USD 20 |
Joypad (C0+j) |
USD 10.50 |
Tiny 32GB USB Flash Drive (C0+d) |
USD 12.50 |
Total for C0 configuration |
USD 159 |
Total for C0+w configuration |
USD 179 |
Total for C0+j configuration |
USD 169.50 |
Total for C0+d configuration |
USD 171.50 |
Total for C0+wjd configuration |
USD 212 |
Chassis
✎🔗We selected the Magician Chassis as the basic chassis for the robot (Figure 12).
We chose it because it has a double-decker configuration, and so we can put the battery in the lower part.
The chassis pack includes the motors and wheels as well as the structural part.
Raspberry Pi 3 - Model B
✎🔗The Raspberry Pi is the central computer of the Duckiebot. Duckiebots use Model B (Figure 13) (A1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU, 1GB RAM), a small but powerful computer.
The price for this in the US is about USD 35.
Power Supply
✎🔗We want a hard-wired power source (5VDC, 2.4A, Micro USB) to supply the Raspberry Pi (Figure 14).
The price for this in the US is about USD 5-10.
Heat Sinks
✎🔗The Raspberry Pi will heat up significantly during use. It is warmly recommended to add heat sinks, as in Figure 15. Since we will be stacking HATs on top of the Raspberry Pi with 15 mm standoffs, the maximum height of the heat sinks should be well below 15 mm. The chip dimensions are 15x15mm and 10x10mm.
Class 10 MicroSD Card
✎🔗The MicroSD card (Figure 16) is the hard disk of the Raspberry Pi. 16 Gigabytes of capacity are sufficient for the system image.
Mirco SD card reader
✎🔗A microSD card reader (Figure 17) is useful to copy the system image to a Duckiebot from a computer to the Raspberry Pi microSD card, when the computer does not have a native SD card slot.
Camera
✎🔗The Camera is the main sensor of the Duckiebot. All versions equip a 5 Mega Pixels 1080p camera with wide field of view ($160^\circ$) fisheye lens (Figure 18).
Camera Mount
✎🔗The camera mount (Figure 19) serves to keep the camera looking forward at the right angle to the road (looking slightly down). The front cover is not essential.
300mm Camera Cable
✎🔗A longer (300 mm) camera cable Figure 20 make assembling the Duckiebot easier, allowing for more freedom in the relative positioning of camera and computational stack.
DC Stepper Motor HAT
✎🔗We use the DC Stepper motor HAT (Figure 27) to control the DC motors that drive the wheels. This item will require soldering to be functional.
Stacking Headers
✎🔗We use a long 20x2 stacking header (Figure 22) to connect the Raspberry Pi with the DC Stepper Motor HAT. This item will require soldering to be functional.
Battery
✎🔗The battery (Figure 23) provides power to the Duckiebot.
We choose this battery because it has a good combination of size (to fit in the lower deck of the Magician Chassis), high output amperage (2.4A and 2.1A at 5V DC) over two USB outputs, a good capacity (10400 mAh) at an affordable price.
Standoffs, Nuts and Screws
✎🔗We use non electrically conductive standoffs (M2.5 12mm F 6mm M), nuts (M2.5), and screws (M2.5x10mm) to hold the Raspberry Pi to the chassis and the HATs stacked on top of the Raspberry Pi.
The Duckiebot requires 8 standoffs, 4 nuts and 4 screws.
Zip Tie
✎🔗Two 300x5mm zip ties are needed to keep the battery at the lower deck from moving around.
Configuration C0-w
✎🔗Wireless Adapter (5 GHz)
✎🔗The Edimax AC1200 EW-7822ULC 5 GHz wireless adpater (Figure 26) boosts the connectivity of the Duckiebot, especially useful in busy Duckietowns (e.g., classroom).
Configuration C0-j
✎🔗Joypad
✎🔗The joypad is used to manually remote control the Duckiebot. Any 2.4 GHz wireless controller (with a tiny USB dongle) will do.
The model linked in the table (Figure 27) does not include batteries.
2 AA 1.5V batteries.
Add figure with 2 AA batteries
Configuration C0-d
✎🔗Tiny 32GB USB Flash Drive
✎🔗Iin configuration C0+d, the Duckiebot is equppied with a “external” hard drive (Figure 28). This add-on is very convenient to store logs during experiments and later port them to a workstation for analysis. It provides storage capacity and faster data transfer than the MicroSD card.
